Hands On With the HTC Rhyme for Verizon

Is pretty worth $200? Many people would answer yes; that's the basis of the whole fashion industry. But as a guy currently wearing a $24 Uniqlo shirt and $40 Dockers, that puts me in a tough position to assess the HTC Rhyme, a new smartphone which seems to be all about feminine style.

The HTC Rhyme for Verizon Wireless, introduced at a press event in New York City today, "expresses who you are as an individual," according to HTC. It's "about tailored craftsmanship," for people who "don't want to have to engage directly with technology." It's about something we may have in short supply around here: taste.

The Rhyme is a slim, slab-style Android 2.3 smartphone which comes in white or purple. It has decent high-midrange specs: a 1GHz processor, a 3.7-inch, 800-by-480 Super LCD screen, a 5-megapixel camera on the back, a VGA camera on the front, 3G, WiFi, and nothing else surprising. At 4.6 by 2.4 by .4 inches (HWD), it feels slim, light and sharp.

The software and accessories are the real story here. There's a desktop dock that the Rhyme slides gently into, a "non-tangling" wired headset, a Bluetooth headset in the Rhyme's color scheme, a speakerphone, and the "charm."

The unique charm is a little soft-touch plastic cube on a long cord, with a clip next to the cube so you can clip it to the strap of your bag. (Apparently, you have a bag.) When you get new text messages or calls, it glows. The tethered cord lets you find your phone in your bag to fish it out of the bottom, where it always ends up.

The Rhyme also has a new version of HTC's Sense software with some new tricks. Home screen widgets pop out to show your latest messages and photos in a fun-to-use, screen-space-saving way. The camera app has been tweaked to deal better with backlit and low-light situations. Background patterns and wallpapers are a little nicer, a little more textured, a little more sensitive than before.

HTC added a few apps, as well. The most interesting one is HTC Family, which lets you create ad-hoc family groups for group messaging. We've seen this on several T-Mobile phones already, and I think it's a good idea. There's also HTC Watch, the company's movie store, which is par for the course as these things go.

It's All About Taste (and Price)

This all brings me back to the Rhyme's marketing speak. The Rhyme "has a really handcrafted feel." The Rhyme "reflects on who we are and how we want the world to see us." The Rhyme "is a sensory and tactile experience with a family of matching accessories."

HTC is tapping into a truth about the mobile market here. Phones are fashion accessories, and people draw conclusions about their friends based on their phones. (Ever see one of those "iPhone people versus Android people" cartoons?) But I can't help but think the company is trying a little too hard.

I spent some time with the Rhyme, and it's fine. The software is genuinely attractive; as always, HTC provides the most functional, most powerful and best-looking skin over Android. The new widgets are terrific for delivering important information in an efficient way. The phone is slim and feels good in the hand. The Rhyme's success will be about whether consumers judge it to be so much cuter than other midrange phones, they cast aside their LG Revolutions, HTC Trophies and iPhone 4s.

My biggest concern about the Rhyme, tasty or not, is its price. This midrange smartphone is coming in at $200 with contract when it launches on September 29. That includes the bedside dock, the charm, and a wired headset, which is at least $50 worth of accessories. But I haven't seen the younger women who form the Rhyme's prime market going for $200 smartphones, unless they're made by Apple. It'll be interesting to see if HTC can get across the value of the accessories here.

What do you think? As this is a matter of taste, I'm genuinely curious to know.

PCMag.com's lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, has reviewed hundreds of smartphones, tablets and other gadgets in more than 9 years with PCMag. He's the head of our Fastest Mobile Networks project, one of the hosts of the daily PCMag Live Web show and speaks frequently in mass media on cell-phone-related issues. His commentary has appeared on ABC, the BBC, the CBC, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, and in newspapers from San Antonio, Texas to Edmonton, Alberta.
Segan is also a multiple award-winning travel writer, having contributed...
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